'A boy, my dear sister; a mere hot-headed boy, and full of unsettled
fancies besides. In matters like this it is for me to think for the
family. My mother depends on me, and my sister may be assured that I
shall do so.'
I wondered whether my mother had given him a hint, and I also
considered whether to put Annora upon her guard; but there was
already quite enough mutual dislike between her and our half-brother,
and I thought it better not to influence it. Solivet escorted us as
far as his military duties permitted, which was almost to Calais,
where we embarked for the Meuse, and there, when our passports had
been examined and our baggage searched, in how different a world we
found ourselves! It was like passing from a half-cultivated,
poverty-stricken heath into a garden, tilled to the utmost, every
field beautifully kept, and the great haycocks standing up tall in
the fields, with the hay-makers round them in their curious caps,
while the sails of boats and barges glided along between the trees in
the canals that traversed them unseen; and as to the villages, they
were like toys, their very walks bright with coloured tiles, and the
fronts of the houses shining like the face of a newly-washed child.
Indeed, as we found, the maids do stand in front of them every
morning and splash them from eaves to foundation with buckets of
water; while as to the gardens, and with palings painted of fanciful
colours.
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